Help us de-stash!

Its been a busy start to the year at the Crafty Squirrel HQ and before we get very excited about having our first ever stall at the Craft and Quilt Fair, Melbourne in late June - we are getting super duper excited about the fact that on Sunday we are joining together with a few other crafty crew to empty our studios and have a good old de-stash! SO.....if you like vintage and new patchwork fabrics, vintage habedashery, assorted craft items, books, gifts and more - then you best pop in at our pop up this Sunday 8am to 1pm at the Ballarat Showgrounds. See you there!

Vintage Sheets and The Big Design Market!

Cast offs Vintage Tunic Top by Morgan Wills

Piles of vintage sheets becoming cushions & quilts

Funnily enough I consider myself a bit of a squirrel when it comes to gathering all manner of craft related bits and bobs I think I may be able to use in my work. I’m passionate about re-purposing, recycling and generally up-cycling discarded fabrics into new and loved products. I’ve been working with felted woollen jumpers for many years now – turning them into scarves, blankets, Babushka dolls and more. 

In my travels over the years, collecting materials from here there and everywhere – I somewhere along the way discovered vintage sheets from the 60’s & 70’s. It was the floral patterns and colours that particularly caught my eye and let’s face it - I was a child of the 70’s – so there is a good dose of nostalgia associated with them – I think it was inevitable that I started to collect them!

The piles grew and grew - as I kept stacking them up in the corner of my studio. I knew that one day they would become a new product and last year I started to dip into them when I produced my ‘Cute as a button’ range of cushions, pincushions and rattles.

In recent months they have had my full attention as I have been working on an idea for turning them into vintage inspired quilts and women’s clothing. When my clever quilting friend Emma from Ballarat Patchwork closed her store I knew she would be the one to work with me on bringing the quilts and quilt kits to life – collaborating has been fun! The two sample quilt designs – Circles & Squares and Chevron pattern are almost finished and will be available for purchase as pre-cut kits with full instructions and ready to sew.

The beginning of my women’s clothing range has been inspired by styles I like to wear myself. My first design is a loose fitting tunic style top with pockets (I love pockets!) and will be made in small (10 to 12), medium (14 to 16) and large (16 plus). I love the fact that the beauty of using vintage fabrics means you won’t see anyone else wearing the same top as you!

So there you have it! It’s been a long process in design and prototyping to get to the product launch stage and I’m delighted to say that these and lots of other crafty bits and bobs I have made and gathered will be available on my stand at the Big Design Market on the 6, 7, & 8 December at the Royal Exhibition Buildings, Carlton Gardens.

I look forward to seeing you there! Morgan x

Exciting news this month!

The Crafty Squirrel had a little feature in this months CountryStyle Magazine! Yay!

What a wonderful way to meet a whole new bunch of lovely creative customers! 

Its been very busy here at the Crafty Squirrel HQ because of this and also because I am gearing up for two fabulous markets this weekend.

On Friday (4 Oct) from 6pm to 10pm and Saturday (5 Oct) from 10am to 5pm you can find me at The wonderful Melbourne Finders Keepers market at the Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton Gardens.

AND! On Sunday (6 Oct) you can find me popping up at The Design Exchange market in the Mining Exchange, Lydiard Street, Ballarat from 10am to 4pm.

What a busy Squirrel! Hope to see you out and about this weekend! x

Visit us at the Maribyrnong Makers Market!

Every year in September I have a big Spring Sale at my favourite market - the Maribyrnong Makers Market.
Put it in your diary and make a day of it! Love to see you there!

Visit me at the Lark Garage Sale!

I've spent the last few weeks having a big cleanup! What a job! But guess what? The results of all of this sorting out and tidying up are going to be for sale at the Lark Garage Sale!

For those of you who came a couple of years ago - you will know how great the Lark sales are - worth a lovely drive to Daylesford for!

I'll have lots of samples and seconds from my own ranges, crafty bits & bobs, a few vintage treasures and discontinued shop stock.

Come along and snap up a bargain next Saturday - the 20 July from 10am to 3pm.

Because I will be in Daylesford all day the Crafty Squirrel shop will be closed for the day.

Definitely not to be missed! Love to see you there!

Happy Birthday Sale!

Aren't Birthdays the best! 

Did you know that coming up this weekend is the Crafty Squirrels 2nd Birthday? Yippee - I say!

To celebrate this wonderful milestone I am holding a special 30% off sale both in store and online for two days only!

The online sale will begin on Friday 28 June at 9am and will finish at 12midnight on the Saturday 29 June.
Just hop over to the shop and enter the code Happybirthday at the checkout!

And for those lucky squirrels who live close enough to Ballarat - well you can come in store and help me celebrate!

Opening hours are:
10am to 5pm Friday & 10am to 4pm Saturday.

Vintage Apron of the Day

Some of the favourites from Vintage Apron of the Day

Mavis, Bill & family circa 1944

I have been collecting vintage aprons for quite a few years now and for the last year and a half I have been celebrating – Vintage Apron ofthe Day every Friday that I work in the shop.

Each week I choose a different one from the collection and celebrate it for the day. There is something so very practical about aprons but it is the fabrics and trims and various pocket combinations that particularly tickle my fancy.

I love thinking about the person who made them and whether they were given as a gift, made by the wearer or bought from a store. Often they have been loved but sometimes they are starched and brand new as if they were kept for good. It’s funny to think of such a practical everyday item being kept for good. Perhaps the owners had lots of aprons some of which got more wear than others.

Often people ask me where the things I have in my collections or have in the shop come from. Increasingly I tell them that ‘they find me’. By that I mean that I seem to have an uncanny knack for treasures presenting themselves to me in my travels at op shops, garage sales, auctions, antique shops and trash & treasure type markets. But more often than not these days I meet people in the shop or at a market who strike up a conversation with me about what I love and then offer to give me things that they in turn have inherited or no longer want. Of course I always say – yes please!

Mavis' apron

This week though was slightly different…this week I inherited a lifetime of sewing bits & bobs and various treasures from Mavis. Mavis - affectionately known as GG (Great Grandma) is the mother of my Mother-in-law and will be 95 this year (Born 1 Dec 1918).

Whenever I see her GG loves to tell me a story about her younger years. She was many things, amongst them all a seamstress. She was also of the mindset that everything should be saved – because you never know when you might need it. You can imagine than what treasures she had stashed away for a rainy day, particularly too, as she had lived in the same house for 60 years.

Amongst the boxes I came across a gorgeous apron and thought how appropriate it would be to wear for this week’s vintage apron of the day. I would guess that she has made this herself in the 1940s/50s.

I also asked her a couple of questions –

What is your favourite colour – Red (great minds think alike)

Favourite decade for fashion - the forties when she was married (1940)

Dish she most liked to make – Sweet & Sour chicken (Yum)

Thank you GG for your generosity and kind heart. This vintage apron of the week is dedicated to you!

Mavis and Bill circa 1939